"One of the unloveliest and least enlightening aspects of contemporary discourse is the tendency to presume that whatever one disagrees with must be very simple—not only simple, but also simply wrong." - Elizabeth Bruenig
@zupertramp yeah to be honest I’m doing it with a colleague and he’s taken more than his fair share of organising which has helped these past few months as I’ve had some personal stuff going on.
@Thrillho cheers bud, yeah I was kind of hitting a kilometre every two songs that played. I am looking forward to trying out a few different albums now. I'm going to have to rip some from CD and put them on my phone because my Amazon autorip selection is a bit paltry!
I liked that cunning punning you did about running 😅. I've been wanting to do park run for a while now. Unfortunately I've been either working or super busy every Saturday ever since it started back up. I might be able to fit it in this weekend as I'm only doing afternoon activities on Saturday, we will see.
I'm a bit worried about one aspect of it to be honest and it's a bit grim so I will spoiler tag it and you don't have to read it at all. But it's the 9am start. Basically I have anxiety induced IBS which completely wipes me out up until mid day. I'm usually OK after noon but there are still some cagey moments. It's just the idea of being away from facilities that does it I think. I've just had to bite the bullet and admit it to myself and accept it now to be honest. Going to work is far too stressful, not knowing what trains are going to have what, whether a building foyer is going to have what I need before I'm able to sign in which can be a lengthy process at disorganised sites. But yeah, I've just admitted it to myself now because it's been affecting me for years so the last couple of weeks I have been waking up early for work and checking the live departures of the trains which gives me the information required. It sucks that I can't find out further in advance because I am getting less sleep because of this new coping method and of course a good night's sleep every night helps with extending a humans longevity. Which is the reason why I started exercising in the first place. So yeah, it's touch [insert joke here 😂] & go but hopefully I'll be able to manage a park run on Saturday if I can!
I'm also sort of hoping that if I can actually manage my problem for a while and get to a point where I stop worrying about it, then it will go away. So being around what I need, will mean that I stop thinking about it as much and my mind and body will just eventually forget about it, even if it takes years. This tends to work with these kinds of obsessive anxieties. I used to have a similar thing but with profuse sweating instead when I was a teenager. For no reason at all, in the most awkward and embarrassing situations I would just be covered in sweat. Face, armpits, the lot. My solution was to just wear black. So I did, for years and all through uni. I kind of styled it out with a Johnny cash quote which was something along the lines of "there's never any reason for a man to wear anything other than black" as I'd just read his autobiography. But yeah, eventually I either started believing my own BS or I just forgot why I was even wearing black in the first place and i stopped wearing black and it was no longer a problem. I actually only remembered that that was even a thing I did when I was talking to my colleague last year (pre pandemic) as he was suffering a very similar problem. Sparked my memory and I shared my story with him hoping it would help because he had gone to crazy lengths like Botox and stuff to stop what he was going through.
Sorry for the life story, I've been hot and cold as to whether to share that here as it is truly a bit grim. As much as I laugh about it and make a joke of it in real life (it's how I handle things), I don't think my sense of humour would come across and disguise what I perceive to to be the grizzliness of the situation over a forum post 😅. Sorry that you had to be the one tagged to read it as well 😂. I'm sure others will read it though as I am about to tag a bunch of others and reply to their posts!!
Ahh the hamstring thing is so annoying! Good on you for keeping it going though. Is that kayaking in a local lake? Same one you went swimming in? Sounds awesome but I don't think I'm brave enough for lake swimming 😅, I can barely handle pool swimming as I'm a total germaphobe. I would like to lead a more natural life in some respects though so maybe my partner can convince me to do it, despite my fear of that tiny fish that swims up your urine stream. However, that could be an urban legend 😂. What's a dry robe? I'm thinking of something akin to a wet suit...but dry...and robey lol
@render ahh that's excellent, really good to hear! I'm thinking of going some longer distances, maybe just the length of a full album and sort of seeing what distance I end up at.
Nah no golf, I am trash at every single sport 😂. I meant from just holding my controller with my arms almost at a right angle. You can get golfers and tennis elbow as an RSI from like typing and doing other work activities (at least my partner did 🤔, it wasn't pleasant). I think golfers elbow is on the inside angle of the elbow and tennis elbow is on the outside angle, could be the other way around though. I'm going to flex my probably incorrect GCSE maths jargon from 17 years ago and say golfers is on the acute angle and tennis on the obtuse angle, or something.
I see all sorts of ergo solutions in my line of work. For seats I've seen like inflated gym balls that are like giant space hoppers without the handles, to like single leg rests (I think that's what they are?) And even these weird shaped stools/chairs that kind of fold weirdly and look like something straight out of a porno. The big companies will put dollar into this though. Ergo IT equipment is almost a given at that particular company I mentioned and it's very pricey considering how simple the technology looks. I think much cheaper options have sprung up in the last couple of years but try and convince a multi billion dollar corporation to save eighty quid on a mouse and you'll be met with blank stares. At least it comes out of the HR budget and not the IT budget 😅. Most companies seem to be going in for raisable desks as standard now too. There used to be a lot of (and still are to be honest) these things called varidesks which would sit on normal desktops and you could raise and lower them with handles. Bit dangerous though to be honest. The proper electric and pneumatic raised desks are much better and safer even if they are more of a ball ache to cable up.
@NedStarksGhost honestly, I'm so guilty of overly long posts that it shouldn't be a problem 😅. I've discussed everything with varying amounts of detail in my previous posts and I'm sure I'll repeat a bit of it while replying to you!
It's what this thread is for, post your good days and your bad days, your dreams and goals, where you're at now and where you want to be. It's really up to you how you want to use it. Sometimes I just use it as a bit of a blog, get something out there to encourage myself. I don't necessarily expect anyone to reply but the fellow posters are often good sports and reply anyway! The community definitely helps I think. I've had good advice on everything from mobile apps to correct socks to wear.
I think, like in the work place thread (I love a good unionisation 😂) that you are speaking my language again! So many similar story beats (and even @render s story) to my own life. Fat school, skinny uni, packed on the pounds in my late twenties etc. My uni skinniness was a bit different. I actually cut out main meals and ate junkfood all day. Not sure why I lost weight but it seemed to work with my early 20s metabolism. Obviously it was a poor way to do it and I'm sure I shaved a few years off my life but I was living a massively hedonistic lifestyle back then so party rings (like crack for sugar fiends like myself) were a big part of it!
I'm just trying to do it in a bit of a healthier way now though. My diet is incredibly slowly getting there. Working to cut out the carcinogenic meat products (I'm not really a fan of the non-carcinogenic ones so that's never been an issue, damn why is everything that is amazing also so bad for you!) But I mainly started this kick with exercise. I thought that if I could get a solid exercise base down first then I could sort the food out later as it was all a bit much to do at once when I was first starting out. Obviously I've hit a few nasty bumps in the last couple of months from some crazy weekends (crazy for my early thirties that is, I used to have infinitely more crazy weekends when I was younger) that's kinds of left me with a few extra pounds. I think I started at 18st5 (6ft2) around Xmas last year, dropped down to about 16st9 about a couple of months ago (purely from exercise, no dieting) and now I'm back up around 17st after my mishaps. Hoping to get the weight back down again now though.
Walking is great to start though. I can attest to it as it's how I started around Christmas last year. Started off with just 2 miles every few days, ramped up to 5 miles after a couple of weeks and by the time I stopped I was doing at least one 9 mile walk every Sunday. During that period, I moved on to doing yoga to help with my posture and strength. Did a bit of really amateur calisthenics (knee push ups and standing ring pull ups) which ended up being a bit of a non starter but hoping to get back into it at some point. Eventually, and it's probably the thing I'm most proud of, is doing that couch to 5K app to success. I didn't reach 5K by the end of the programme but I pushed myself the week after I finished it and hit that elusive target. Then it all went downhill 😂 but am slowly starting to get back into it again now. But yeah, it was really slow baby steps at first and I think I enjoyed it more than I thought I would so I started adding and subtracting different activities.
I love me some IPAs! Stouts and porters as well. Not big on lager, bitter, pilsners, wheat bears are touch and go, saissons, ales (red, gold etc.) and whatever other beer there is really (un?)fortunately!
Best of luck though, and please post about it all here. Will be really good to hear from you!
Here's some resources I used as well, just in case anything takes your fancy...
DDP Yoga (also called YRG) - it's yoga done by Diamond Dallas Page, torrent it and try it out first if you fancy it because it costs a lot of money and it's a waste if you don't actually get on with it.
Cheap-o fitness tracker from Amazon for £25 - good to get some stats about walking even if it's a bit bare bones!
Couch 2 5K app - I think this is by Active. I actually think it's free now with adverts but I paid for it some years a go but it's come in handy now.
Hybrid Calisthenics on YouTube - you really just have to see this to understand its appeal. The guy is so nice and does videos like "you can do push ups" and he really explains it all well.
I think that's more or less it but if I remember anything else then I'll let you know.
This has been a rather long post to write so I am going to go to bed soon hopefully and catch up with/reply to everyone else in the next few days.
This is more a less a reply to everyone. I love swimming but I hate going to the pool. Too many kids around which I assume means too much pee in the water. Also it's really expensive. I had a cheap pool near me that did £3 swims but not sure if it's still going or not. Most of em are like £6-8 though
@kyleforrester87 nice legs, I think, I guess. Im not sure if i really like them to be honest but I am being polite 😂. Don't know why I clicked. I knew what I'd find. But I did it anyway 😂
Good stuff, glad to hear from you and I hope to hear some more updates on it. Especially on the nights after the rides, that is if you aren't just sleeping and actually have reception.
But yeah, I hope you are doing well mate, considering. It's been hard but you'll get through it, I know it!
@ralphdibny hahah I wanted to try getting something waxed at some point in my life just to see if it’s as painful as my girlfriends have always made out. I hated the look of it at first but seeing pictures of my legs hairy looks weird now. I’ll probably keep doing it now 😂
Saw the doc today, 3rd round of back to back antibiotics and a throat swab on Friday 🤞🏻
@ralphdibny It's amazing how similar stories come up and how quite a few of us end up taking the very same actions. At high school at one point I'd stop spending my lunch money on actual lunch and just bought rubbish from the shop to eat later on somehow thinking that starving myself during the day and only eating later would be the right thing to do. It did work in that I lost a load of weight but unfortunately it reinforced my bad eating habits so when I started Uni I just followed the same practice but drinking copious amounts of coffee and smoking during the day to suppress my appetite followed by junk food and then beer later on. I can remember plenty of days where I felt pretty awful but wasn't really interested in changing my behaviour as I had no reason to.
At some point I realised that I couldn't go on like that and have changed my ways for the better. I'm lucky in that I've not ever put that weight back on but really wouldn't want anyone else to resort to that way of going about it.
I can totally appreciate it if someone has certain hang-ups about doing things / going out. I think there's a lot of people out there dealing with those sorts of issues, especially now after multiple lockdowns and having to return to a level of normality. I definitely think that eating well and exercise are key to a lot of things though, even down to our behaviour so it could be that some of those things are linked.
In my experience if I haven't managed to get out for a run / ride for a while then I do feel that. I start to feel a little depressed and maybe even slightly claustrophobic if I've been stuck in the house. In those moments when I do get out I feel like a real weight has been lifted off my shoulders and the rest of the day I just feel carefree. I'm not even sure that's the right way of describing it but that's as close as I can get.
That's why things like Parkrun are great as they aren't for your elite guys that can already run 10k or a marathon at a good pace. They are for everyone to get out and feel like you can exercise with a group of like minded people without worrying what other people think. We should all embrace that sort of thing and make that part of our lives in order to be, quoting Radiohead...fitter, happier, more productive!
@kyleforrester87 but does it hurt like your girlfriends have made it out?
PSN: frownonfun
Switch: SW-5109-6573-1900 (Pops)
"One of the unloveliest and least enlightening aspects of contemporary discourse is the tendency to presume that whatever one disagrees with must be very simple—not only simple, but also simply wrong." - Elizabeth Bruenig
@zupertramp I had it done “unprofessionally” shall we say, had the person knew what they were doing it might have been less painful lol. I didn’t enjoy it but I’d have it done again. I guess it hurts a lot more doing more sensitive private areas.
@kyleforrester87 ahhh I suppose you didn't mingle in the wax your friends while they are sleeping type circles 😂. I've woken up with a few strips of leg hair missing from my legs. Thankfully nothing on my face as that would be super embarrassing!
To be honest, I would have assumed it was something you did already. Being a cyclist and all! I think my brother does it for his cycling.
Hopefully it doesn't get too itchy as it grows back.... 😅
@render it's always the way ain't it? I don't think mine was neccesarily in order to lose weight. I think it was just all apart of my BS ethos to just do whatever I wanted. Ending up scrawny was just a happy byproduct of it! It's funny though, when you kind of live fast and do what you want, you don't really care what happens to you. But when you live slow and you have to do lots of stuff that you don't want to do then every minute becomes precious and longevity becomes key.
Cheers, yeah I know. Hopefully I get back to some level of normality. I think I had just had enough of all that stuff recently and needed to share. I didn't really want to TMI this thread but I guess overall that it does fit the the "Health" part of the title. But yeah apologies to you and anyone else who had to read it! I know I'd read it if it was somebody else, my morbid fascination would have definitely got the better of me 😂. Maybe it will be helpful to someone else with the same problem if they come across it, y'know so they don't feel alone. Thankfully the only real side effect I've suffered is crippling anxiety and changed plans, nothing grimmer than that so I'm thankful I guess 😅. But it would be nice to not have to live my life by it.
Perhaps elation is the word your looking for? It's how I'd describe it. It's not entirely dissimilar to certain recreational drugs but it's certainly different. It's a bit like a high but id just describe my feelings post (successful) workout as elated. I'm happy, I'm tired but the good kind of tired. Things I was worried about are less concerning to me. I would say that it took a while for me to feel like that though, and it's certainly not every time that I do. It's just a mixed bag but when it is good, it is good!
Haha yeah for sure. It's just physical maintenance for our bodies and it would be nice if a daily routine was more ingrained to us (people who didn't play football in the playground because we don't like football) from a young age but it feels like it's going more that way now. Normal, regular people are harking on (but not so much that they stop being normal regular people) about maintaining a base level of fitness. People are looking trimmer every day. I think it's more noticeable that society as a whole is trending toward healthier lifestyles even if there are a few late stage holdouts such as myself. It's weird one because there is something to be said for being fat, it can be an attractive thing for some people and I wouldn't like to poopoo their choice as I am all for free will but yeah, it's clearly not the healthiest thing to do.
@ralphdibny hell of an informative reply dude. I've only just had chance to look at it as yesterday was a hell of a bad day in work (but I won't get into that here!). Cool to see someone else going through the same struggles! Totally agree about Party Rings....
Sounds like you've made some great progress though. No doubt you'll be able to carry on with it again, seeing as you've done it before. It is tough to stick to it at times, and I find as a working adult it's just harder again! I don't know about you but I'm finding my energy levels to be so poor, because I can't sleep very well and don't exercise enough, mixed with a poor diet. I've ready stories about how people find they have more energy when they lose weight and exercise, caffeine can only do so much for me so I'm hoping that happens!
I'm the same with the crazy weekends, completely stalls my progress. Will head out for a few drinks in the day, before you know it I've sunk 8 pints, eaten a massive meal, feel quite poor the next day so obviously I need a takeaway! And so the routine is just broken because it kind of runs into the rest of the week. Hence I think cutting out beer is the way to go for now.
Thanks for all the resources and advise on the exercise. I will look into it all, I've always considered I should start doing Yoga so I will look into it. Not a bad idea to get a cheap fitness tracker either so I'll look at some options.
And for sure I will keep you posted about my progress, and I'll keep an eye out for yours too!
@ralphdibny The pun wasn't intentional but I decided to.... run with it
And (from you lengthy reply!) I can see how ParkRun could be a bit of an issue for you. In the mid/longer term though it could well be something to aim for. I have to admit I've never done one as I tend to go further than 5k most runs now. Well, when I don't have another niggle anyway..
As for our kayaking and wild swimming, we go on a river that's only about 10mins from our house. It's a pretty popular spot for both and they built a little pontoon on the riverside to make getting in and out more easy. And the Dry Robe is a big waterproof coat with a fluffy lining to get you to dry and warm up quickly once you're out the water. It certainly does the job!
@NedStarksGhost Good luck with whatever you decide to try for exercise! We all have our various reasons for getting into such things. For me, I played loads of hockey at uni so kept really fit but didn't keep it up afterwards. When I later lived in a house with three floors, I suddenly found I was quite out of breath running up and down the stairs if I needed to get my keys because someone was at the door.
I started running and started from collapsing in a sweaty heap on the nice cold kitchen tiles back then to running my first half marathon last month! (albeit with a fair few years and training in between) I really like it for exercising as it's easy to just grab your shoes and go. Plus, now I'm doing longer distances, I quite like planning new routes to explore more of the area around where I am.
@Thrillho Thank you! Congratulations on running a half marathon, that's a great achievement! I have a friend who is super into running and I know the amount of work he puts in for his, so well done!
@NedStarksGhost glad that my post could potentially be of some use to you in future. I felt I had to reply to you because it sounds like we are in a similar place. Honestly, the people around on this thread have been great. Really encouraging even if it's just through engagement so I am really grateful to them for that. I think paying that forward to you only seems like the right thing to do as well.
I will say that I try not see any of this as a struggle as I find ongoing struggles as unpalatable so it would really put me off doing it. I just sort of see it as "is" or "isn't". I'm either fat or skinny but I'm not "struggling with my weight". I think it's just the way my mind is wired and also because of my favourite Yoda quote "do or do not, there is no try" 😅 (my partner hates when I say that to her!). I will definitely refer to specific things as a struggle though. Like one day I might struggle to motivate myself to do a yoga, or I might struggle to hit the 5K in a run. But if I'm struggling to do an undefined or vague goal over a long period of time then I would just think that I am not doing what I'm supposed to or I'm doing it wrong and I'll either blow it off or do it differently. I'm not sure if that makes sense. I also doubt that attitude is helpful or right for most people but it helps me personally just to be honest with myself, stick to the facts and to see things as black and white in some respects.
It was way easier to keep it up with less/no work obligations during the pandemic. It's definitely been harder to find time and motivation since going back to work. I find work days are just a write off so I'm still yet to find that balance. Hopefully when I'm more settled into a routine and I've moved in with my partner, then I can finally work out exactly what it is I can and can't do around my work time.
I don't think caffeine would help me get through a workout by itself 😅. I'm no nutritionist but I'll definitely try to eat something fairly decent about an hour before I'm about to exercise. I think that's just kind of ingrained into me from the various times in my life where I've chosen to do exercise or an exercise plan for a while. What I do think caffeine is good for though (and I might be wrong about this) is like enhancing your work out. So you will have your meal which gives you the actual energy to see your chosen exercise out to the end, but having a coffee between the meal and the workout will kind of give you an extra kick and help you work harder on the same amount of calories. I remember doing that sort of thing frequently back when I was doing that Insanity Workout about 7-8 years ago.
Best of luck with it all again, we will all be here when you choose to share your experiences!!
@Thrillho ahh yeah, I think it was you that shared the link with me about various 5Ks, 10Ks, half marathons, marathons and fun runs in the local areas. I think they were mostly paid events when I had a look. I thought some park runs did 10Ks but I think I got it a bit mixed up with this other website you sent.
I was really going to go for the park run yesterday but I've had such a busy week that I didn't realise that I had to get a printed barcode for it. A printer was unavailable to me once I'd actually sat down to sign up for it so I didn't bother to go up to the local one for 9am.
But I did manage to get in a 5K in the morning anyway. My partner and I were meeting some of her friends from uni in the early afternoon for a day of drinking so I definitely needed to get something in in the morning to offset that 😅. But yeah, managed it in a cool 39 minutes 😎. So 4 mins slower than my fastest time but still better than where I was at a few weeks/month or 2 ago. Not bad off a breakfast of crumpets and Nutella though 😅.
Sounds sweet! I'm sure she will convince me to get into some green coloured water at some point but it might be far into the future 😂. I can barely handle the blue coloured variety at the moment and don't even get me started on the sea! I've never really liked being covered in salt for the rest of the day 😅. Gosh I sound like such a city person, I hope to change that as I get older!
Forums
Topic: The Health, Fitness and Exercise Thread
Posts 381 to 400 of 643
Please login or sign up to reply to this topic